Remembering when the Rolling Stones came to town

Neil Shefferd

A new book featuring memories of The Rolling Stones performing in Aylesbury has been published.

Shows remembered in You Had To Be There: The Rolling Stones Live 1962 – 69 include a concert which took place at the Granada Theatre in Aylesbury on January 21 1964.

The book, written by Richard Houghton, contains more than 500 eyewitness accounts of the band’s first seven years, beginning with performances from pubs and clubs in and around London and culminating in their show in 1969 in Hyde Park in front of an estimated audience of 250,000 fans.

Included in the book are the recollections of three fans who attended the Aylesbury gig when they were teenagers.

They contacted Mr Houghton after his letter asking for memories of the Stones was printed in The Bucks Herald.

Linda Hailey, who was 15 at the time, said: “I went with my mum, her friend and a school friend of mine.

“I remember standing in the foyer and seeing Mick Jagger talking to one of the staff.”

Bill Hannay, who was 13 years old, recalled that the evening was noticeable for the absence of band member Brian Jones, who drowned in a swimming pool in 1969.

He said: “I remember the official announcement referred to the prevailing foggy conditions.

“It didn’t detract from the tight and punchy sound produced by Mick, Keith, Bill and Charlie.

“To think that I was part of a live audience witnessing in Aylesbury the early incarnation of a rock’n’roll phenomenon.”

Jilly Williamson, who was 15 at the time, remembered the press coverage of the gig.

She said: “The Bucks Herald featured a photograph on the front page of two girls kissing the door handle Mick Jagger had touched.”

The publication of You Had To Be There: The Rolling Stones Live 1962 – 69 coincides with the recent announcement of a major Rolling Stones exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London next year.

Mr Houghton’s own interest in the group started when aged 11 he watched Mick Jagger perform Brown Sugar on Top of the Pops in 1971.